Red Pepper Quilts on Etsy

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

This little quilt was in progress for most of last week; the relentless Summer heat left me completely useless and although attempts were made to soldier on I couldn't bear to turn on the iron and add more heat to an already hot house. I pulled fabrics, did a little cutting and propped myself on the couch with my knitting.

A cool change blew in on the weekend and sewing has since resumed - we are once again a happy home. The plan for this quilt was fabric play and then rounding the corners - just for a change and to work on technique. I made the quilt top as usual (with square corners), then basted and quilted it. Once the quilting was completed I squared up the quilt (trimmed off the excess batting) and then used a large dinner plate to mark the curved corners. I traced the curve of the plate with a fabric pen first - so that I could still change my mind - then proceeded with a rotary cutter to follow the marked curves on the quilt. Easy.

This is the first time I have rounded the corners of a quilt - although I have previously worked with binding curved edges for potholders, oven mitts and a patchwork bag. I made my own black/white stripe bias binding - from fabric strips cut across the diagonal of a square of fabric (off-grain) - giving the fabric sufficient ease to hug the corners. And it worked! It wasn't any more difficult than getting the mitered corners of a quilt right. Perhaps even a little easier as the binding is stitched onto the quilt without stopping and starting at the corners.

The back of the quilt features a single black/white print from the popularSummersville Spring collection by Lu Summers. The quilting is functional and simple. All seam lines have been ditch stitch, and in addition I have quilted a single line both horizontally an vertically through the center of each of the squares.

I am really pleased with the effect of the gently rounded corners of the quilt and you can expect to see these curves pop up more often in my quilts.

This is a beautiful quilt. I'll have to try rounded corners some time. I once made a quilt that was all half square triangles on point. There was naturally an angled corner, so I left it that way. I really liked the effect. You can see it here. http://missesstitches.blogspot.com/2009/07/baby-quilt-part-iii-of-iii-finally.html

I have rounded the corners of many pieces over the years-comes from years of boat living where all the corners are rounded off. It's beautiful, unusual and unique in most people's experiences. You have done it so well here, I love it.

Brilliant quilt. The rounded corners are so cute and the colours pop with the simple ditch quilting. I often think too much quilting "hides" the fabric. I am tempted to try the rounded edge out for my next project, thank you for the inspiration

I use rounded corners for a lot of my quilts. I make traditional quilts, with traditional binding, but also have gotten in the habit of making recycled quilts from old jeans. I always make rounded corners on my jeans quilts, just seems softer/cuddlier with the stiffer fabric. My jeans quilts are often my go to gift for high school graduation gifts. Perfect for sending off to the dorms or whatever abuse they are subjected to! And of course the kids love them.